Unaffiliated voters scramble to enroll in party ahead of primaries

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
7:00 pm EST, Monday, February 4, 2008

Bridgeport Democratic Registrar Sandra Ayala estimated about 80 percent of the people who showed up Monday morning were enrolling in a party, rather than registering as new voters or changing their address.

Ayala said three-quarters of those people were changing from unaffiliated to the Democratic Party.

Although final numbers could not be provided due to a system crash, more than 30 people walked in and enrolled in a party in the last hour of registration alone.

Shelton Democratic Registrar Jack Finn estimated Shelton's percentage may be even higher. He said about 95 percent of the people he encountered who enrolled in a party during the past few weeks became registered Democrats.

Finn said of the 47 people who showed up Monday morning to change their party affiliation, only five registered as Republicans.

Fairfield Republican Registrar Roger V. Autuori said he has seen the same trend. He said the majority of the people he saw enrolling in a party at the last minute "are in favor of the Democrats."

"We were originally 2,000 ahead of them -- now it's less," Autuori said of resgistered Republicans.

Of about 80 people who stopped in to register Monday, more than 50 joined the Democratic Party.

"A lot of people want to weigh in on a historic choice," said Connecticut Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz. "There's been a lot of interest on the Democratic side, because it's been so highly contested between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama."

Bysiewicz said the Republican primary might be drawing fewer people, because "McCain has become the presumptive nominee."

She said statewide the number of unaffiliated voters who enrolled in one of the two major parties in the last three months alone is close to 17,000. Only 3,600 of those people enrolled as Republicans.

People registered as unaffiliated voters are not eligible to vote in primaries.

Bridgeport resident Theresa Avelino, 55, said she has been unaffiliated for more than 10 years, but this year she enrolled as a Democrat to support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Avelino said she supports Obama because "he didn't vote for our soldiers to go to Iraq," she said.

Avelino said she has a daughter in the Army and she worries that her daughter will be sent to Iraq if the war continues much longer.

O'Neil said she admired Clinton's stand on health care. "What we need are changes," she said. "We need a woman as president."

Bysiewicz said more than 34,000 new voters -- including more than 8,000 people between the ages of 18 and 29 -- have also registered for today's primaries. More than 17,500 of the new voters are registered Democrats.

Kenneth Neeley, 65, said he has been unaffiliated since he first registered to vote as teenager, but this time he decided he wanted to vote in the primaries. He is not voting for a Democrat, but for Arizona Sen. John McCain.

"I just feel he's the best candidate available," he said. "He's an honest man."

Bysiewicz said when she first decided to move the primary from March to February, she was told no candidate would visit the state to campaign.

Now, after several visits from Clinton, a visit from both Obama and his wife, Michelle, and McCain's visit to Sacred Heart University on Monday, Bysiewicz said she expects a primary turnout "close to 50 percent."

All polls will open at 6 a.m. today and remain open until 8 p.m. Connecticut is one of 23 states holding primaries or caucuses today.